Retrospective GST amendments change exemption and levy rules and bar refunds on paid GST in specified goods.
Amendments give retrospective effect to changes in GST treatment for specified goods: fishmeal exemption is limited with no refunds for paid GST; reduced levy treatment for certain pulley and wheel parts used in agricultural machinery is applied retrospectively, also without refunds; and refunds of accumulated compensation cess credit on tobacco products arising from an inverted duty structure are disallowed retrospectively.

Removal of difficulties orders extended under GST compensation law to allow continued issuance for an additional statutory period.
Amendment to Section 14 of the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 expands the temporal scope for issuing removal of difficulties orders, enabling the grant of such orders for an additional two-year period and thereby extending authority to issue orders until five years from the Act's commencement.

Removal of difficulties orders extended to permit issuance beyond the original timeframe, enabling continued administrative corrections.
The UTGST Act is amended by modifying Section 26 to extend the statutory authority to issue removal of difficulties orders, permitting continuation of those orders beyond the Act's initial transitional window and thereby lengthening the period during which administrative corrections and clarifications may be made under the Act.

Extension of removal of difficulties orders: continuation permitted for two years under amended IGST Act provision.
The amendment to Section 25 extends the authority to issue removal of difficulties orders for an additional two years, allowing such orders to be made up to five years from the date of commencement of the IGST Act, thereby prolonging the administrative mechanism to address implementation issues.

Composition scheme exclusions expanded, affecting service suppliers and inter state service supplies and tightening input tax credit rules.
Amendments revise the definition of Union territory, narrow the composition scheme to exclude specified categories of service supplies, delink debit note date from invoice date for input tax credit, prescribe manner and time limits for transitional credit, and strengthen registration, procedural and enforcement provisions including cancellation and revocation rules, invoice issuance for services, removal of TDS certificate obligations, and enhanced penalties and cognizable treatment for fraudulent availment of input tax credit.

Excise duty increase and higher NCCD rates on tobacco products raise tax incidence and apply immediately.
Amendment increases excise and NCCD rates for specified tobacco and tobacco substitute tariff items in the Seventh Schedule to the Finance Act, 2001, listing revised unit and ad valorem rates by tariff heading and measurement unit. The changes take effect on enactment and are applied immediately under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931.

Anti-circumvention measures expanded to enable investigations into circumvention of anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
Amendments broaden Anti-Dumping Rules to strengthen anti-circumvention measures and clarify investigation scope for dumping that injures domestic industry; corresponding changes add an explicit investigatory mechanism in Countervailing Duty Rules to address circumvention of countervailing duties and clarify procedural scope. The instrument also revokes specified anti-dumping duties on purified terephthalic acid originating from certain trading partners.

Social Welfare Surcharge exemption withdrawn; notification amended to remove specified tariff entries in certain chapters.
Exemption from the Social Welfare Surcharge previously applicable to specified imported goods is being withdrawn by amendment to the governing customs notification, which omits certain table entries so those goods no longer attract the earlier surcharge exemption.

Social Welfare Surcharge exemption on specified imported goods announced, covering foodstuffs, stone products and complete commercial vehicles.
Social Welfare Surcharge is exempted on a specified list of imported goods identified by HS codes and descriptions, including dairy products (whey, cheese), live plants, nuts (almonds, walnuts), cereals (wheat, maize), chewing gum, infant food preparations, various forms of orange juice, selected marble and calcareous stone products (tiles, blocks, monumental stone), and all commercial vehicles (including electric vehicles) imported as completely built units.

Customs tariff amendments tighten concession eligibility and harmonise BCD entries while removing redundant provisions.
Amendments to customs tariff notifications revise BCD entries by omitting redundant listings, consolidating inconsistent tariff provisions, and narrowing ambiguous item scope so concessions apply only to intended end uses. Procedural and eligibility changes include imposing an actual user condition on a bamboo import concession, aligning technical conditions for satellite testing equipment and scientific instruments, clarifying assistive device coverage for disabled users, and removing the techno economic clearance requirement for a fertilizer renovation concessional BCD.

Health cess on imported medical devices imposes an additional customs duty, excluding BCD exempt items and manufacturing inputs.
A Health Cess is proposed as an ad valorem customs duty on imported medical devices (HS headings 9018-9022) measured by import value under the Customs Act; export promotion scrips cannot be used for payment. Devices exempt from basic customs duty and inputs/parts used in manufacture are exempt from the Cess, and proceeds are to fund health infrastructure.

Customs duty exemptions withdrawn as obsolete; several notifications rescinded or consolidated into updated customs notifications.
Several earlier customs duty exemption notifications are being withdrawn as no longer relevant, including exemptions for Commonwealth Games imports, power-project imports, Advance Customs Clearance Permit imports, SAARC preferential trade, goods produced in Nepal, wool/woollen fabrics and paper money by humanitarian entities, preferential tariff items, and water-supply projects under Project Imports; certain entries have been merged or superseded and some exemptions are now available through notification No. 50/2017-Customs.

BCD exemption withdrawal removes concessional customs treatment for numerous listed import goods, restoring standard basic customs duty.
Review under the Finance Bill 2020 withdraws concessional basic customs duty exemptions by omitting specified entries from Notification No. 50/2017-Customs, thereby removing concessional BCD treatment for a broad list of listed imports - including agricultural and food products, oils, sugars, raw materials, polymers, films, chemicals, specified machinery and project-tied imports - with several entries subject to quantitative caps or conditional provisos.

Customs duty revisions reshape tariffs to protect domestic manufacturing while exempting inputs and conditioning concessional rates.
Proposed revision of basic customs duty rates reallocates protection by increasing duties on finished consumer and automotive imports while reducing or exempting inputs and designated end-use materials to promote domestic manufacturing. Concessional rates and exemptions are conditional on specified end-uses and registrations, such as RNI registration for newsprint; electronic and mobile-phone components face staged duty increases with effective dates; defense-related imports by specified public sector undertakings are exempted subject to listed items.

Basic Customs Duty increases apply to numerous tariff headings, altering import duty obligations from the effective date.
Amendments increase the Basic Customs Duty in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 for numerous tariff headings, specifying revised duty percentages for defined commodities and adding new tariff entries; certain new entries show an operative zero effective rate. The changes are effective 02.02.2020 and declared immediately collectible under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931.

Safeguard measures expanded to permit duties or tariff rate quotas when increased imports threaten domestic industry.
The substituted Section 8B empowers the Central Government to apply safeguard measures-including imposition of a Safeguard Duty, application of a Tariff Rate Quota, or any other appropriate measure-when increased imports of an article cause or threaten to cause serious injury to domestic industry, centralising authority to identify qualifying import patterns and to select proportional remedial instruments.

Preferential tariff verification: suspension of duty concessions pending exporter verification and security requirement for import clearance.
New Chapter VAA (section 28DA) creates a framework for preferential tariff treatment under trade agreements, imposes importer obligations and requires time bound verification from the exporting country; preferential treatment may be suspended pending verification with clearance only on furnishing security equal to the differential duty, and may be denied in certain cases. Section 51B establishes an Electronic Duty Credit Ledger for duty credits in lieu of remission and extends recovery provisions to such credits. Amendments also add confiscation liability for contraventions of preferential claims and empower rulemaking under sections 156 and 157; an explanation preserves pre 2018 notices under section 28.

Verification of Returns: prescribed persons may verify company and LLP returns and act as authorised representatives.
Amendments allow any person prescribed by the Board to verify the income-tax return of a company or LLP and permit any person prescribed by the Board to appear as an authorised representative on behalf of an assessee, supplementing existing verification and representation rules that currently designate managing directors, directors, insolvency professionals, designated partners or partners.

Cost of acquisition for segregated portfolio units: holding period continuity and proportional NAV-based allocation determine tax basis.
Units in a segregated portfolio inherit the holding period of the original units in the main portfolio, and the cost of acquisition of segregated portfolio units is the portion of the original cost proportionate to the ratio of the NAV of assets transferred to the segregated portfolio to the NAV of the total portfolio immediately before segregation; the cost of the original units in the main portfolio is deemed reduced by that allocated amount.

Annual financial statement upload expands tax-statement data in assessees' accounts, aiding compliance and accurate return filing.
The administering income-tax authority, or its authorised person, will be required to upload an Annual Financial Statement to the assessee's registered account on the designated portal, in such form, manner and within such time as may be prescribed, containing financial information in the possession of the authority (including items beyond tax deducted or collected). The existing provision specifically governing the prior tax-deduction statement is proposed to be deleted and the amendment takes effect from 1st June, 2020.